pap

I don't think it's that specific

Why you should vote yes in the Alternative Vote referendum.

I'm in the minority on this one, but I hate it when we sing anti-Pompey songs when we are not playing Pompey. It's particularly crap when we're in some far-flung corner of the North where no-one gives a flying feck. I do not like particularly like Portsmouth FC, but equally, I'm not going to let my dislike of them partially define my participation as a Saints fan at games . I've never been particularly fond of hornets, but I don't spend my entire life worrying about them. I deal with them on a situational basis. The same should be true of Pompey. Deal with them when we play them. Let them rot in the ignominy of our indifference when we're not.

I did pedg, but any student of history knows the difference between primary evidence, secondary evidence and Wikipedia Besides, it's not really my point. The conspiracy theorists get to chip away at the official account. They could be completely blown out of the water, but haven't been.

The genie was let out of the bottle during the miner's strikes in the 1980s. Very difficult to put it back.

Yep, you're right. Long day. Point still stands though. They could shut people up once and for all with conclusive proof. You can't tell me that they haven't got better surveillance of what went down there. As you pointed out in your correction, it's the Pentagon, the nerve centre of the US Defense department. Just give us some good footage and put it to bed.

I know there is no real rivalry, but Poyet and a vocal section of the Brighton fans have been total tubes, and utterly ungracious in victory. I'll admit it; I've jumped onto their forums to have a nose at what they're saying. You'd think they'd just won the Champions League, the way they're going on. It's League One, ffs. So congratulations Brighton. Enjoy the moment as Champions of the third-tier of English football. Your constant crowing of "CHAMPIONS" is like a delusional dimwit screaming "I'm the smartest student in Set 3!!". Maybe one day, you'll be a real football club. Until then, stop poking your ever extending noses up our arses, and get some damned perspective.

I try to keep an open mind when it comes to conspiracy theories. Too many people just accept everything that they're ever fed hook, line and sinker. There's probably a bit too much faith in the "free" press, especially since its in the hands of so few people. Also, people just don't think big enough, and are perhaps guilty of projecting their relatively mundane existences onto the super-powerful. I don't know what the elite get up to day-to-day, but I'm guessing they have a different outlook on life than you or me. There are a few things that the powers-that-be could do to shut proponents of conspiracy theories up, mostly providing concrete evidence. For example, we're told that a 747 crashed into the White House on 9/11, but save a few frames of blurry video ( which doesn't look like a 747 at all ), there's no conclusive proof.

Some updates on the debate :- (Don't) Blame Canada First, Canadian general election happened yesterday. Canada has 11 hung parliaments under FPTP, which destroys the No 2 AV argument that FPTP is a magic bullet against that sort of thing. This time, the Conservatives got an absolute majority. With 40% of the public vote. The centre-left vote was split across two parties. Cameronballs Also, the PM was on Today this morning ( iPlayer - 2:19 ). Humphreys gave him a good grilling, and lo and behold, Cameron came across as knowingly clueless and confrontational, accusing the veteran broadcaster of not understanding the AV system. Usual bolox about needing voting machines, refused to condemn the baby poster. How this man ever became PM is beyond me. Under AV, he probably wouldn't. Cyber-squatting The No 2 AV campaign has bought yes2av.org - and using it for their own campaign. There's a group that's confident of their argument. Armando Ianucci Finally, Armando Ianucci did some balanced sniping of both official campaigns for the Evening Standard, before finally pledging his vote.

You're right, I am lucky to be able to ask questions without fear of getting killed. All Brits won the lottery by being born here. I also accept that there are people out there who want to kill or subjugate us, but that's not really an answer. People don't suddenly decide to kill or subjugate; there are reasons (mad ones, maybe) why they do things. With the freedom that we in Western democracies have, we're probably the only people who have the capacity to answer the big questions.

As I've pointed out before, I don't think this gives the US families any real sense of closure. Out of all the posts here, I'm actually inclined to agree with Atticus. You admit that there are probably going to be revenge attacks. Why? That's the big question that no-one's answered. Why? I'm sorry, but I don't subscribe to the theory that people are inherently evil and just decide to kill 3,000 people for nothing. Make no mistake, I am NOT condoning ANY terrorist attack. I'm simply asking "Why?" Unfortunately, with Bin Laden's death, we're never going to know.

Absolutely first-class, but totally incompatible with the normal Saints last day of the season triumph. May the incompatibility continue.

While I'm always a sucker for creative writing (and enjoyed your post), remember that this guy is cited by the US as being responsible for the biggest terrorist atrocity ever committed on US soil. This was an opportunity to try, convict and sentence this man for these crimes. America is after all, supposed to be a nation of laws, not men. Even if the US didn't want to go through the judicial process, over 3000 people lost their lives on 9/11, the facts are in dispute, and having nothing but a President's say-so that "all is ok" is short-changing the relatives of the victims, imo. We've had President say-so's before. I refer you to the cases of Nixon, and both Bush presidents.

Still not a shred of a case for FPTP.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/may/02/bin-laden-body-buried-sea He was at the top of the US most wanted list, ostensibly responsible for a massive atrocity. Buried at sea? The very least the US Govt should have done is provided their citizens with some closure.

Believe me, if you can read SWF, don't think you'll hit your boredom threshold in an AV poll.

Agreed. No due process. No closure. Still no proof that he was ever involved. He may well have been, but it strikes me as awfully handy that after the end of the Cold War, we get a new enemy and a new, unwinnable war.

Article on the conflicting claims of the two campaigns about whether AV will produce coalitions "most of the time", or about the same. Looks at the situation in Oz, which both camps are using as "proof".

Are you really saying you are unable to order things from 1-4?

That's that cleared up then.

Dunno. Afghanistan is strategically important. If Bin Laden had been pronounced dead back in the day, the public mission would have been over before the covert objectives could be achieved.

Personally, I think he was killed years ago. The proof photo doesn't look too convincing.

Nice thread. More wrinklie reaction please.

Got some mushrooms back in the day. Was about 17, and at that time, you hear stories about pretty much anything getting you high. So I didn't even think they would work. Three of us strode into Portswood and were having a beer in the Mitre. For about half an hour, we were all saying "Not feeling anything". Shortly afterward, both of my mates said "We gotta get out of here", and shortly after that, I realised that we had to leave too. Essentially, dealing with anyone that is not tripping themselves is a bit of a problem. The experience is pretty profound. Many hallucinogens have disassociative effects, which pretty much unhook you from your own personality. Life, and the crap you get up to day to day, seems pretty ridiculous. The shrooms lasted for about six hours. Did shrooms quite a few times over the next few years. We also did acid a couple of times. It's a similar experience, but feels a bit dirtier and lasts a sh*tload longer. We're talking 24 hours at least. Now, I've spoken to people who did acid in the seventies; accounts of their experiences suggest it was much stronger back then. Short notes on other stuff. Ketamine is extremely weird. You feel like you're up for hours, in reality you are up for about 45 minutes. I did hallucinated on E back in the day, but to be fair, you never really knew if it was cut with something else. On reflection, a pretty positive experience all around. We never got the notion that we could fly, but we did do some other crazy stuff:- + Locking someone in a discarded industrial tumble drier (we let him out) + Touching the back of an old geezers head because it looked like a Mr Whippy icecream. + Riding around the New Forest on pushbikes in pitch black, fearing every set of headlights were the rozzers + Breaking a flat door by diving through it (the protagonist had a plastic Jif lemon in his mouth) + Sitting on top of the "giant skateboard" in Mayflower Park. By far the weirdest experience was after some heavy clubbing in London. Can't tell you what I took at the time, but I'd just arrived from Liverpool, and everyone in London seemed to have a scouse accent. Statistically extremely unlikely ( especially since many of the people I was with never had scouse accents before ). As others have remarked, brilliant experience all round, but I'm glad it's over. Sleeping seven nights a week is underrated. If I had to give any advice to people embarking on psychadelic adventures, it'd be this. Go with people you trust, avoid people that aren't tripping themselves and know that once you've taken something, that's it - normal service ain't going to be resumed anytime soon. So just go with it, be safe and be prepared for some very sore laughing muscles.

Good post.